Lessons From the Edge (Part 1)

Dr Alan Brast

August 9, 2012

Medical Trauma Specialist and Suicidologist Dr Alan Brast has his heart broken over and over working with people pushed to the edge through terminal illness. His best advice for them, and the general population, is to implement his tried and tested checklist of things to live by, always. Check them out, here.

Well between the heat that you guys have, when I left home it was almost snowing and the fifteen and a half ride with some guy sitting next to me who wanted psychoanalysis. And then the time difference… if I fall off the stage please just call 911 or whatever emergency.

The patients that I see suffer from unimaginable traumas. As all we said, I’m bored certified in suicide-ology and I get my heart broken 10 times a week. But when I get a good result and I see somebody go from here up to there I feel like I’ve walked up the east side of Mount Everest. That’s what keeps us coming back.

If this really poor attempt at a horizontal line were the word normal, the only place it exists is in Webster’s text because none of us in this planet are normal. Trust me when I tell you, we are all as wacky as a 3 dollar bill.

Most people do not have what I call the laws of decision. There is basically three parts to it and most people violate all 3. The first is, if you have something that you can address right now, when it happens, don’t let it build into an elephant. Do it now.

The second one is the on that is most important and that is, when something happens, like on a Friday, that you can’t address or do anything about till Monday… You got 2 choices. You can either totally screw up your whole weekend. You can worry about it, dwell on it all Friday evening. Ruin Saturday. Wreck Saturday night. All day Sunday until Sunday night. And then when you can do something about it on Monday it’s going to be the same as it would’ve been if you were able to learn how to put it on the back burner of your mind.

The third though is equally important, which is, if something happens because of your illness or your trauma or whatever. That can’t be changed. If you’re going to lose a part of something that you love to do, that you have to be able to move past, get over it!